Hyundai aims to add spark to its lineup
Germany-based Motorsport division’s tech trickles down to N division road cars
ALZENAU, GERMANY Hyundai’s product planners claim the company has an image problem.
Well, that is if you consider it a problem that, when polled, people associated the Korean brand with good value and a great warranty.
However, that same poll revealed that what the company lacks is a fun factor; apparently people buy Hyundais to appreciate their low cost of ownership, but not because they’re engaging to drive.
To remedy this lack of enthusiasm, Hyundai has introduced the N division.
When you see that N tacked onto the end of a particular model, such as the recently released 2019 Veloster N, you can be sure it will boast a level of performance and handling unlike any normal version of the car.
N-branded cars won’t just be parts-bin specials, but will incorporate enough changes that they can be considered different cars.
The Veloster N for example, has a different engine and transmission than the base or Turbo models, its chassis is strengthened, it has unique bodywork and suspension, and, most importantly, it was developed in conjunction Hyundai Motorsport, based in Alzenau, Germany.
Founded just six years ago, Hyundai Motorsport is the Korean manufacturer’s racing division; it currently occupies a four-acre facility and employs 200 people.
It is where cars like the i20 Coupe rally car are built from scratch. The i20 Coupe WRC is an AWD car powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged four, which is a sleeved-down and de-stroked version of a 2.0-L production engine.
It develops 380 horsepower with a series-mandated 36-millimetre restrictor in place, and mates to a sequential, six-speed gearbox.
The process begins when a bare i20 chassis is taken off the assembly line at Hyundai’s Istanbul factory, and sent to Hyundai Motorsport, where it is strengthened with additional gusseting before being sent to suppliers in either France or Italy to have roll cages welded in place.
The chassis then returns to the race shop, where all of the racing components are assembled.
In the WRC car, the body structure is about the only component that is shared with the production car, which is a front driver.
The cost to produce one is about 680,000.
An i20 Coupe WRC, driven by Belgian Thierry Neuville, currently leads the World Rally Championship.
The factory race cars return to the race shop following each rally event, where they are stripped down to the bare chassis, inspected, and then rebuilt for the next event.
Hyundai Motorsport also produces customer cars, which are sold to privateer race teams and drivers through a customer racing program.
The i20 R5 customer rally car is based on the five-door model and is converted to AWD.
It also uses a 1.6-L turbocharged engine, though this engine comes from the Elantra GT and is modified to produce 285 hp with a 32-mm restrictor in place, and delivers power to the wheels through a five-speed sequential gearbox.
Suspension, brakes, and electronics are all racing components.
The cost for a “base” i20 R5 is 235,000, but the price can go up, depending on a customer’s individual specs.
Finally, for a more affordable race car, Hyundai Motorsport also builds an i30 N TCR for pavement-only Touring Car racing.
For a starting price of 130,000 you can get an i30 N TCR (the i30 is known as the Elantra GT in Canada), which is a highly modified production car that retains its front drive (series mandated), and uses a production 2.0-L turbocharged four that mates to a six-speed sequential gearbox.
A ride as a passenger in an i30 TCR around the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, driven by former Formula One driver Gabriele Tarquini, hints at why Hyundai’s customer racing program has so far proven successful, both in sales and race results.
This is a full race car, stripped of interior trim.
It’s loud, it vibrates, but it’s also remarkably fast, generating high Gs as Tarquini rails through turns with his foot planted into the floor.
His braking markers are unfathomably close to corner turn-in.
While I keep a cool, composed expression on my face, inside my head I’m screaming.
A tour of the Hyundai Motorsport race shop reveals it is constantly busy producing customer cars and maintaining factory race cars. Development of the race cars includes building complete test cars, two of which are in the shop.
These cars are complete and ready to race, but will never see competition.
Once parts are approved on these test mules, they are then used on the race cars.
It takes two weeks to build a customer race car from scratch, and the company has the capability to build four customer cars per month.
More than 50 customer race cars have been sold since September 2016.
If you’re wondering what all of this racing know-how has to do with the production cars, the Veloster N and the Euro-only i30 N were developed by the same team who run Hyundai Motorsport.